Train-stopping apparatus.



A. paunmen. TRAIN STOPPING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. 19. 1915. 2 1,222,944. J'atented Apr. 17,1917.

I zsntirs-sucn 1.-

A. L. GUTHNER.

TRAIN STOPPING APPARATUS.

APPLICAIION FILED m4. l9. m5.

1,222,944. Patentedpr. 17,1911.

2 SNESTS SNEET 2i gww/wtoo transversely of the trackway and illustrat-' ALBERT 1.. GUTHNER, or LITTLETQN, conoas no.

. TRAIN-STOPPING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Pa tented Apr. 1'7, 1917.

Application flied January 19, 1915. Serial No. 3,145.

To all whom it may oorwem Be it known that I, Assam L. Gurnnnn, a citizen of the United States, res-idin "at Littleton, in the county of Arapahoo, tate of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Train- Stopping Apparatus, and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

This invention relates to certain novel and useful improvements in a train stopping apparatus through the medium of which the air brakes may be set and a lever on the engins actuated to. close the usual throttle valve should the train fail to stop in response to the danger signal located along side the trackway.

In carrying out my 1nvention it is my pur pose to provide an apparatus of this character which is actuated or moved into train stopping position when a semaphore signal or other. signaling device is shifted or thrown into danger position, so that should an attempt be made to run the train past the signal the brakes will be applied and the throttle closed to bring the train to a stop.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a train stopping apparatus of this character which will embody the desired features of simplicity, efficiency and reliabil1ty,wh1ch is capable of withstanding rough usage, which will not be affected by the elements, such as hail and snow,fwhich may be applied to standard railway equipment -without changing the latter, and which, embodying as it does, but relatively .few'parts, may be manufactured, installed and operated at a relatively low cost. i

With the above recited objects and others of a similar nature in view, my invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement. of parts set forth in and fall in within thescope of the appended claim.

n the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a view in elevation, taken ing conventionally a portion of a locomotive,

a semaphore signal, and my invention employed in conjunction therewith.

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the parts constituting my invention which are carried by the locomotive.

Fig. 3 is an end view of a tripping lever,

the air valve.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a verti cal longitudinal sectional View taken through the tripping device at the trackway, and through the operating mechanism therefor.

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional View taken through the tripping device at the track on the line 66 of Fig.

Fig. 7 is a detail view in side elevation, showing conventionally the throttle valve lever of the engine and the piston and lever connections for operating the same to close the throttlezwhen he apparatus is operated to stop the train.

Fig. 8 is a sectional View taken on the line 88 of Fig. 7.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the letter A designates conventionally a locomotive (while B is the pipe for supplying air to the brake cylinders, this pipe having'a controlling. valve C therein of any ordinary, sort, such for instance, as a rotary or plug valve. D is the mast of the semaphoresignal, while E is the semaphore arm, the semaphore being merely conventionally illu strated. The throttle leverof'the engine is indicated at F.

' Embedded in the ground alongside the trac'kway-is a vertizally disposed cylinder G, a portion of whicii projects above the sur face of the ground as clearly-shown in the drawings. Traveling in this cylinder is a piston head '1' to which the vertical rack bars 2 are connected, these rack bars extending upward in para llelism and through stufi' ing boxes 3 in the top of the cylinder G. At their upper ends these bars carry a hollow head 4 which is preferably triangular in cross section, the construction being such that when the hea :l' is loweredyinto contact with the top of the cylinder it acts as a cover for the cylinder top and prevents the en trance to the cylinder of Water, dirt and the air pipe and the spring for the arm of other foreign substances, the entrance of such foreign substances being also prevented by the stufilng boxes, and it is to be noted that the top of the cylinder is closed, with the exception of the openings for the rack bars through the stufling boxes.

Embedded in the ground and communicating with the cylinder below the surface of the ground is a hollow sleeve 5 which houses the rotatable shaft 6, the latter carrying at one end a pinion 8 which mesheswith the rack bars 2 and is adapted to be rotated to raise and lower such rack bars. The other end of this shaft carries a gear wheel 9 meshing with the gear rack 10-011 the rod 11, this rod being connected to the semaphore arm E in the well known manner and is operated to raise and lower the arm in any preferred way, such as by a piston 12 working in the cylinder 13, this plston being connected, of course, with the rod 11. It will be evident that as the rack 10 is raised and lowered with the rod 11, the shaft 6 will be rotated to correspondingly raise and lower the rack bars 2 carrying the head 4. In this connection I wish it to be understood that I have merely conventionally illustrated the means for raising and lowering the rod 11, as the signal may be operated by any suitablepower, such as pneumatic, hydrostatic or electric.

Carried at a point on the locomotive is a tripping lever 14 which is pivoted as at 15 with the longer end of the lever extending below the pivot point. The upper or shorter end of the lever carries a .locking pin. The numeral 17 designates an arm connected to the stem 18 of the valve C, the free end of this arm 17 carrying a curved block 19 which is provided with a notch 19 adapted to receive the pin 16 of the tripping lever. A spring 20 1s connected at 21 to the arm 17 and is suitably anchored at its upper end as at 22 to the frame of the 1000- motive. The normal tendency of the spring is to pull the arm upward and thereby turn the valve stem 18 so as to open the valve O and let the air through the pipe B in the direction of the arrow to the air brake cylinders to set the air brakes, but as the block 19 normally lies beneath and is engaged by the-pin 16 of the lever 14, the arm 21 is held in valve closing position against the action of the spring 20. When, however, the lower end of the lever'14 contacts with the trip along the track, in the present instance this trip being the head 4 carried by the rack bars 2, when such head is in its elevated position, the lever 14 will be swung on its pivot 14 and the lug 16 will be moved away or disengaged from the notch 19' of the block 19, and thereupon the arm 21 will be pulled upward by the spring 20 and the valve C opened to permit the air from the reservoir to ass through the pipe B and through suc valve to the air brake cylinders. In order to prevent the too speedy application of the brakes, I locate in the pipe B between the valve C and the brake cylinder a bafiie disk 23 having a central opening 24 therein, and this opening constituting as it does a constricted or reduced opening, lets the air gradually through to the brake cylinder and thus the too sudden application of the brakes is prevented.

In order to actuate the throttle lever by my device, I provide a cylinder 25 in 'which moves the piston 26, and this cylinder is connected through a pipe 27 with the pipe .B at a point between the bafl'le disk 23 and the valve 0. A piston rod 28 is connected with the piston 26, and the outer end of this rod is pivoted as at 29 to a lever 30, this lever in turn being pivoted as at 31. This lever 30 rests on the throttle lever at about the center of'the latter, and when the piston is moved in the cylinder by the admission of air through the pipe 27, the lever 30 is correspondmgly moved or rocked to shift the throttle lever F to close the throttle valve and shut off steam in the usual manner.

From the above description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction and operation of my invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. When the semaphore signal arm E is down or in position to indicate safety, the rack bars 2 are in there lowered position in the cylinder 1 and the head 4 rests upon the top of the cylinder and below the line of contact of the operating lever 14 carried by the locomotive. The consequence is that thetrain may pass the tripping device at the track without the lever 14 being operated. Should the semaphore arm E, however, be in its raised or danger'position the rack bars 2 will be in their elevated position, and should the train attempt to run past the signal, the lever arm 14, striking against the head 4 will be moved on its pivot 14' to release the arm 17 and open the valve C, this permitting the air to pass through the pipe B to the brake cylinders to set the brakes, and also a portion of the air will pass through the pipe 27 to thecylinder 25 actuating the piston in this cylinder and causing the operation of the throttle lever to'close the throttle valve and shut off steam as hereinbefore mentioned.

While I have herein shown and described one particular embodiment of my invention, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to all the precise details of construction herein set forth by way of illustration, as modification and variation may be made without departin of the invention or excee the appended claim.-

What I claim is:

In a train stoppin apparatus, the coming the scope of from the spirit 7 bination with a signa device havin a ver-' 1 send casing, a pail-of rack bars I Copies of this patent-may be obtained foi' five cents each, by addressing the Washington, D. C. I

said shaft, one of said pinions operating vupon said rack, and the other pinion 0 eratsaid casing, said 'rack bars through the top of the casing,

ing in said casing, a piston head mova 1e in carried by said head and meshing with the pinion in extending mounted upon the projecting ends of said raok bars and adapted to be projected above and a head the trackway whenthe signal is set to form 13 I a tripping device for a train stopping mechanism.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature, in the presenue of two witnesses.

Witnesses:

DAVE) DE CAMP, A. LOAHWNJ'IGL ALBERT L. GUTHNER.

Commissioner of 'latents, 

